Radio frequency identification (RFID) systems have achieved wide popularity in a number of applications, as they provide a cost-effective way to track the location of a large number of assets in real time. In large-scale application such as warehouses, retail spaces, and the like, many RFID tags may exist in the environment. Likewise, multiple RFID readers are typically distributed throughout the space in the form of entryway readers, conveyer-belt readers, mobile readers, etc.
Each reader typically includes one or more antennas. When an antenna fails, tags within the read point corresponding to that antenna cannot be read by the system. This reduces tag reader availability. To address this issue, prior art systems often include a spare antenna attached to a reader which is turned on only when another antenna attached to that reader fails. Since the antenna failure is local to a specific reader, only that reader knows about the failure. And since many applications may talk directly to the reader directly, the way the system handles antenna failure might be different for each application. As a result, the time necessary for knowledge of the failure to propagate through the network, and the performance of the corrective action, may vary greatly.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide RFID systems that are capable of transparently handling the failure of an antenna in a multi-antenna system. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.